


Learn to Do It

by Manni26



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Family, Father/Son, M/M, Nervous
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-24
Updated: 2019-10-24
Packaged: 2021-01-02 09:57:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21159794
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Manni26/pseuds/Manni26
Summary: Ted Wheeler And Jonathan Byers. Need I say more? I noticed in season 1 that Jonathan was unable to tie his tie for his brothers funeral (probably because his dad never showed him), meanwhile Ted taught Mike how to do his. I just thought it might make a cute vignette.





	Learn to Do It

The soft, warm summer air blew through Jonathan’s neatly cut and combed hair as he stepped out of his best-up car onto Maple Street to pick Nancy up for their first day of work. 

He’d be lying if he said he wasn’t excited at the idea that he’d be working with the woman he was crazy for; a year ago he would never have been bold enough to fantasize of something of the sort. But it was reality, their reality, and he couldn’t wait to start. All night he’d stayed up packing to be prepared for the first day of their summer internship.

As he approached the door, Jonathan felt a tinge of nervousness. Even though he and Nancy had been together for a while, he still got anxious when he came to her door. Sometimes it was the fear that she’d realize he was a loser and would want to find someone better, other times it was the actualization that one of her parents could open the door.

Karen was a sweet, kind, gentle mother who clearly loved her kids and wanted the best for them. She reminded him tremendously of his own mother. 

Then there was Ted.

Jonathan couldn’t quite get a read on Ted. Sometimes he was righteous, headstrong, hell bent on giving a lecture. Other times he was quiet, calm, almost removed from the family. When it came to his relationship with Jonathan...well, it seemed like there was none. Jonathan never pushed for one with Ted, and Ted never attempted to get to know his daughters boyfriend.

Regardless of his anxiety, he knocked on the door, and Mike answered it.

“Oh, hey Jonathan,” he started before turning and yelling, “Nancy! Jonathan’s here!”

Nancy came rushing down the stairs in a stunning white dress with subtle blue stripes woven into the soft cotton fabric. Her hair was curly, as usual, but pulled back in a French twist. Everything about her was stunning. She wore just enough make up to accentuate her natural beauty and topped it all off with the delicate opal necklace Jonathan gave her for her birthday around her neck. 

God, she was beautiful.

“Hey...” He stammered at her appearance, “you look...wow.” She blushed at his compliment, taking him by the hand and bringing him into the kitchen to see her family sitting around the breakfast table. 

“Nancy, you look beautiful!” Karen gushed, standing up and kissing her daughters cheek. “And Jonathan! Look at you! You look...like a man! Like a grown man! I remember when you were just a boy! What do you think, Ted?” 

Ted looked up from his eggs to see the pair before him. He looked them up and down before speaking. 

“No tie?” He questioned Jonathan.

“Uh...no...no sir,” he nervously replied, not knowing what to say. 

“Why? Didn’t your dad teach you to tie a tie?” The room went totally silent. Nancy, Karen, and Mike shot daggers at Ted for his insensitivity. 

“Oh Ted!” Karen commented, clearly annoyed at his remark, “Jonathan I’m so-.”

“It’s okay, Mrs. Wheeler. I don’t actually know how to tie a tie,” Jonathan looked down at his feet as he shamefully admitted to his girlfriends entire family that he couldn’t do a basic thing that all men who had fathers could do. 

Ted stood from his chair and began to walk to the stairs. 

“Come with me,” he spoke to Jonathan. 

What?

Ted Wheeler wanted him to follow him upstairs? Was he going to kill Jonathan?

“Yes sir,” Jonathan quietly remarked, following close behind the patriarch of the family. 

They entered Ted and Karen’s bedroom, a room Jonathan had never been in. It was large, dark green, and seemed to smell of women’s perfume. Ted opened his closet and pulled out a long, blue and red tie and handed it to Jonathan.

“A man always wears a tie to work. It makes you look more professional, reliable, and honest,” Ted taught him.

Jonathan did as he was told and placed the tie around his neck as Ted proceeded to tie the tie, talking Jonathan through every step until he was confident the boy could do it on its own. 

“See, it’s not that hard,” Ted told him in an almost fathering way. 

“Thank you, sir,” Jonathan answered, feeling slightly less nervous. 

As Ted went to leave the bedroom, he turned and spoke to Jonathan in a simple, kind tone.

“You can keep the tie. Good luck at the job. Watch out for Nancy,” Ted softly spoke. 

“I will. Thank you, Mr. Wheeler.” 

There was a moment of quiet between the men, Ted’s back to Jonathan who still stood in the middle of the bedroom, in awe of what happened. 

The moment passed and Ted returned to his eggs, Jonathan to Nancy’s side. 

“We’d better get going,” Nancy declared, grabbing his hand and leading him out the front door. 

“What was that all about?” Nancy questioned as they walked to the car. 

“Your dad taught me how to tie a tie...and he told me to keep it and to watch out for you.” 

Nancy stopped in her tracks.

“He did?” She asked.

“Yeah.”

“Wow.”

“What?”

“He must really like you. He wouldn’t even look at Steve.”

The thought of that made Jonathan blush. 

He didn’t have a father of his own, really, and a big part of him so desperately wanted Nancy’s parents to like him. To know that Ted, impossible to crack Ted, May have liked him as a suitor for his eldest daughter...maybe even as a person well...

That meant the world to him.


End file.
